Countering extremists online remains elusive in Congress

By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fighting violent extremism online will be the focus of private briefings this week for members of the U.S. Congress from law enforcement officials and Silicon Valley executives, as Washington struggles to formulate a coherent strategy. The classified briefings, scheduled weeks ago, come as Washington policymakers grow increasingly alarmed at how the Islamic State militant group uses technology to recruit online and evade surveillance detection

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Apple releases first Arabic version of Siri

By Julia Love SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc on Tuesday released a version of its virtual personal assistant Siri for Arabic speakers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, potentially making its iPhones more attractive in a largely affluent market of more than 30 million people. The move, part of Apple's latest software updates, means people in those countries will be able to use Siri in their native tongue on iPhones, iPads and the Apple Watch.

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Canada government websites taken down in cyber attack

Several Canadian government websites and servers were taken down in a cyber attack on Wednesday, the government said, with the hacking group Anonymous taking responsibility in what it said was retaliation for a new anti-terrorism law passed by Canada's lawmakers. The general website for government services, canada.ca, as well as the site of Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), were among those affected.

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India IT behemoths revamp culture to attract young talent, battle start-ups

By Nivedita Bhattacharjee MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s oldest and most distinguished IT firms are doing what would have been almost sacrilegious a few years ago – holding coding marathons to develop innovative fixes and deploying “commando” units to resolve clients’ IT woes within hours. Infosys , Wipro and other Indian IT giants, which rose to prominence during the outsourcing boom in the 1990s and 2000s, have struggled to keep pace with mushrooming start-ups. Client demands are similarly changing in India’s $147 billion IT outsourcing industry.

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Cyber security measure blocked in Senate

The Senate failed on Thursday to advance legislation to strengthen protections against cyber attacks, as Democrats banded together to oppose the measure's inclusion in a defense policy bill President Barack Obama has threatened to veto. By a 56-40 vote, lawmakers decided largely along party lines not to move ahead with the measure as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. It was the third time in three years that the Senate has failed to advance bipartisan cyber security legislation.

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